Motor propelled vehicle



Dec. 27, 1938. J. G. TINGLE MOTOR PROPELLED VEHICLE Filed Feb. 14, 1938 Patented Dec. 27, 1938 V.

UNITED STATES PATENT; OFFEE 2,141,568 MOTOR PROPELLED VEHICLE James G. TingleyMiami. Fla. Application February 14, 1938, Serial No. 190,503

Claims. (01. 280-293) V This invention relates to motor-propelled ve- Fig. 2 is a vertical sectional view on line 2-2 hicles of the type employing two ground wheels of Fig. 1, with portions of the framework omitted, disposed in tandem, one of said wheels being pivand oted for turning to effect the steering of the ve- Fig. 3 is a plan view of the prop wheels and the 5 hicle. actuating connections and supports for the same. 5.v A machine of this general character is described The vehicle of the present invention comprises in my co-pending application Serial No. 98,947, a main frame 5 to which is secured the body or filed September 1, 1936, of which this present shell of the vehicle 6. This body is of streamline application is a continuation in part. form and is relatively long and narrow. The r I In common with the machine of my aforesaid frame carries an operators seat 1, from which a 10 application, the device of the present invention steering wheel 8 is accessible. When in operacomprises a pair of supporting prop wheels artion, the frame is supported from the front ranged to be elevated from the ground or forced wheel 9 and the rear wheel [0, the rear wheel l0 into engagement with the ground. When in the being supported through the bearings, hereinlatter position, these prop wheels serve to mainafter described, from the spindle ll. This spin- 15 tain the vehicle in an upright position when it is die is in turn carried by the rear end of a rear at rest, as for example when forced to come to a fork l2, said fork having pivotal engagement at stop in traffic. 53 with-the main frame 5.

The improvement embodied in the present ap- 'Any suitable spring arrangement may be em- 7 2o plication over what is disclosed in my aforesaid p y t x rt a t ust between ar rk l2 a d application consists in the provision of means the main frame 5 to cushion the movement of for steering the .prop wheels in unison with the the rear fork, this feature forming 110 P Of main steering ground wheel of the vehicle and th present invention, but u a sp ng being inunder the influence of the main steering hand dicated at [6,

5 wheel of the vehicle. By virtue of thus provid- The a e 5 a d ody 6 e pp t d from ing for the steering of the prop Wheels, the vethe front fork 20. The shank 2| of this fork is hicle may move in a reverse direction with the mounted o tu in fixed ad 22 n a manner same facility as in a forward direction, and with- Common in bicycle and motorcycle Constructionout having the ground wheels twist around side- Rigid braces 23 and 24 WeldedtO Said head 0 Wise. tend outwardly and downwardly and connect with This is an important consideration, because it the pp Side members of frame A third enables the vehicle to be turned in close spaces. brace 5, rigidly welded to the head extends A vehicle of this character is, by its very nature, from Said head and iS rigidly fi d o a sh quite long in proportion to its width, and this is Steering Shaft y Which the hand Steering especially true Where, as is sometimes the case, Wheel 8 is Carried, is mounted t u in be seats are arranged in tandem for more than one ings 23 and 29 and Carries at its d e d a person. segmental pinion 30. This segmental pinion Where the available room for turning is such meshes t a gear Segment 3| that s gid y that the vehicle may swing around b a ti fixed to the shank 2| so that movement of the uous forward movement, the steering of the prop Steering Wheel W impart direct turning ove- 40 Wheels is not a matter of importance, but where ment to the front fork d s q ntly t th the length of the vehicle is such that continuous front Wheelforward movement cannot be had, but the ve- The lower ends of the front fork are pivota y hicle must be backed, in making th t th connected at 32 to links 33, the forward ends of 4.5 steering of the prop wheels in'unison with the these links carrying the front axle 34 upon which main steering ground he 1 is a feature of great the front wheel 9 is mounted to turn in a manner utility and convenience and avoids the possibility Co n in b yc e d CY ns ruct onthat the driver will have to dismount and lift the Th rear nds of th nks a p v ta y n a d front of the vehicle around. with rods 35 which extend upwardly through In the accompanying drawing, wherein like nuguide housings 36, and at their upper ends are 50 merals designate corresponding parts throughfixed to a transverse plate 31. v out the several figures of the drawing: The upper ends of the guide housings are con- Figure l is a diagrammatic side elevation of a nected by a suitable tie plate 38 to the upper vehicle constructed in accordance with the inportion of the front fork 20 so that the front vention; wheel, front fork, housings 36 and associated parts 55 all move bodily together in the turning movement of the vehicle. The downward movement of plate 31 under the pull of rods 35 is resisted by a stout spring 39 which bears against said tie plate 38. The housings 36 are rigidly affixed to themembers of the front fork and constitute rigid support for plate 38 and spring 39.

As described, the vehicle is held in an upright position when it is not in motion, by a pair of caster wheels 41.. These wheels are mounted in the forks, and these forks are in turncarried by shanks 43. These shanks 43 are mounted to turn in the T-heads 44 of a transverse rock shaft.

45 that is journaled in bearings 46 of the side members of the frame 5.

Crank arms 41, upon the upper endsof the shanks 43, are connected to move in unison by means of a cross-link 48. A. drag" link 49 is connected at its lower end by a ball and socket connection 50 to the cross-link 4B and is connected atits upper end. by another ball and socket connection 5 l -to a'crank extension 52 upon a sprocket wheel 53. This sprocket wheel is mounted upon a-- stub shaft 54, that. is journaled in a bearing 55 of an A frame. 56.

By referring-to'Fig. 2, it will beseen that this A frame. comprises one long leg and one short leg, by virtue of which the bearing 55 is caused to lie toward that side. of the vehicle: remote from the ball and socket connection 50. Further, it will be observed-that the bearing 55 is not parallel with the main frame 5 but lies in parallelism with the steering shaft 21.

The. sprocket wheel 53 is connected by a sprocket chain 51 with a sprocket pinion 58 on steering shaft 21. It is clear that when shaft 21 is turned-under the manipulation of hand wheel 8 to effect a turning movement of. thefront wheel 9. of. the vehicle, a corresponding turning movement will. be imparted to the prop wheels 4| through the resultant movement of links 49 and 48- and cranks 41 upon shanks. 43.

The arrangement described not only provides for the necessary turning movement of the caster wheels but, throughthe ball and socket connections of drag link 41, it permits the caster wheels to be thrown upwardly andout of engagement with the ground during, the time that the vehicle is in motion. This is accomplished by imparting a partial turning movement to rock shaft 45 through any suitable mechanism.

One arrangement which I. have found highly efficient for this purpose comprises a cam 59 upon rock shaft 45. A preferably metallic strap or. tape 69 isconnected to the'cam 55 at point 61 and is connected to a corresponding cam 62 at point 63-. The cam 62 is secured at its heel 64=to aifoot pedal 65.

When the pedal is thrust downwardly, cam 62 is rocked, and by reason of the fact that its side 62 is considerably longer than its side 62 acts to impart a quick initial downwardly swinging movement to the prop wheels-to bring them quickly intoengagement with-the ground and to thereafter. exert a slower but correspondingly more powerful. action in bringing these prop wheels to'their final supporting position.

In this latter action,.the prop wheels are required to performthe work of bringing the vehicle t'o-a level against theaction of its tendency to tip with the weight of the passenger or passengers. Thus, it is important to have their quick initial movement of the prop wheels into engagement with: the ground before the vehicle has time to tip over toov far and to thereafter have the more powerful movement necessary to bring the vehicle toupright position.

The pedal 65 may be provided with any suitable retaining means, such as ,a ratchet 66, and when the pedal is released, a spring 61 may act to move the ground wheels out of engagement with the ground.

In the rocking movement of shaft 45 to elevate the prop wheels, it will be understood that these prop wheels, with their shanks, their crank arms, and connecting cross-link 48, allm'ove together, so that the cross-link moves to a position where it partially overlies rock shaft 45. This movement is permitted by having the A frame of such configuration that the sprocket wheel 53 is brought well to one side of the center line of the vehicle while the ball and socket connection 50 is disposed well toward the other side of the vehicle.

Thus, the drag link 49 may be made of such length and lie at such an angle that, in conjunction with its ball and socket connections, the necessary rocking movement of rock shaft 45 may be had without interference by the drag link 49.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the precise construction set forth, but that it includes within its purview whatever changes fairly come within either the terms or the spirit of the appended claims.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. The combination with a vehicle comprising a main frame, front and rear ground Wheels and means for effecting steering movement of the front ground wheel comprising a steering shaft, of. a pair of caster prop wheels, forks in which said prop wheels are journaled, upstanding shanks carried by said forks, a rock shaft extending across said frame in which said shanks are journalled to turn,- cranks upon said shanks, a cross-link. connecting the cranks of the two prop wheels, a drag link connected to the crosslink, connections between the drag link and the steering shaft to effect steering movement of the prop wheels from said steering shaft and means for turning the rock shaft about its axis to throw the caster into and out of engagement with the ground.

2. The combination with a vehicle comprising a main frame, frontand rear ground wheels and means for effecting steering movement of the front ground wheel comprising a steering shaft, of a pair of caster prop wheels, forks in which said prop wheels are journaled, upstanding shanks carried by said forks, a rock shaft extending across said frame in which said shanks are supported, cranks upon said shanks, a crosslink connecting the cranks of the two prop wheels, a sprocket wheel mounted upon a shaft set in. parallelism with said steering shaft, sprocket connections'between the sprocket wheel and the steering shaft, a crank carried by the sprocket wheel, and a drag link having a ball and socket connection with said crank at one of its ends, and a ball and socket connection with the cross-link at its other end, said ball and socket connections permitting the drag link to swing bodily with the cranks of the shanks while maintaining the connections between the sprocket wheel and drag link.

3. In a device of the character described, the combination with a vehicle of the tandem wheel type which tends to tip when at rest, of a prop construction for the same comprising a pair of caster wheels, forks in which said caster wheels are mounted to turn, a transverse rock shaft LII journalled upon the frame, means for mounting said forks in the rock shaft to turn about a vertical axis, means for imparting partial turning movement to the rock shaft to swing the prop wheels into and out of engagement with the ground, spring means tending to elevate the prop wheels, a hand st ering wheel, a steering shaft by which said wheel is carried, and means for imparting turning movement in unison to the forks of the prop wheels from said steering shaft, the means for turning the rock shaft comprising a manually operable foot pedal, a cam moved by said pedal, a cam upon the rock shaft, each of said cams comprising an arcuate face, and a strap connected to said cams at the tips thereof, the distance from the pivot point of said cams ,.to their heels being less than the distance from the pivot point of said cams to their points.

4. A steering and prop mechanism for a tandem two-wheel vehicle of the class comprising an elongated supporting frame and a drivers seat thereon so arranged that the feet of the driver lie above the level of the frame when the vehicle is in motion, comprising a manually operable steering wheel accessible from the drivers seat, a steering shaft by which said wheel is carried, said shaft lying at an obtuse angle to the supporting framewith its forward end lower than the steering wheel end, gearing between the forward end of said shaft and the front wheel of the vehicle, a stub shaft and a bearing for the same disposed in parallelism with the steering shaft but closer to one side of the frame than the other, sprocket connections between the steering shaft and the stub shaft, comprising a sprocket wheel upon the stub shaft, a crank carried by said sprocket wheel and projecting from a side face thereof, a link having a ball and socket connection with said crank, a transversely extending drag link with which the first named link has a ball and socket joint connection at a point adjacent that side of the frame that is farthest from the said sprocket connection, a transversely disposed rock shaft upon the frame having vertical bearing portions at its ends, caster wheels journalled to turn in said vertical bearing portions and cranks for turning said caster wheels and to which cranks the ends of the drag link are connected.

5. A structure as recited in claim 4, in combination with means controllable from the drivers seat for rocking the rock shaft to throw the prop Wheels into engagement with the ground, the ball and socket connections of the link permitting the drag link to swing bodily with the cranks to which it is attached while maintaining the connection between the drag link and the sprocket wheel.

JAMES G. TINGLE. 

